Secretly Canadian / EEVILTWINN | Released: April 10, 2026
Here is the thing about Wesley Joseph. He has been one of the most quietly thrilling artists in British music for the better part of five years, and he has done it almost entirely on his own terms. No viral shortcuts. No trend surfing. Just a filmmaker’s eye, a musician’s ear, and a stubbornness about the kind of art he wants to make. Birmingham born and London based, a member of the OG Horse collective alongside Jorja Smith, he moved to London in 2016 to study film while simultaneously converting his bedroom into a makeshift studio. That dual identity, filmmaker and musician existing in the same body, is the secret weapon that makes Forever Ends Someday feel unlike almost anything else released this year. Three years in the making, Joseph took time away from the spotlight to find his story, choosing to pursue the honesty of his art rather than capitalising on career momentum. That patience is all over the album. This does not sound like a record made under pressure. It breathes.Right from the get go, “Distant Man” and “White Tee” set the tone with fizzing grooves and cataclysmic percussion, before the record takes the listener on a journey that veers between stripped-back soul, leftfield electronics and tightly-focused rap. The production team reads like a fever dream wish list: A.K. Paul, Nicolas Jaar, Harvey Dweller, Tev’n, Al Shux, Ryan Raines and Romil Hemnani all contribute, creating a sonic world that is genuinely hard to define. Rap, soul, shoegaze, psychedelia and downtempo electronics jostle for space without the record ever feeling confused. It feels like a man who contains multitudes. Nicolas Jaar shapes the more spacious, open-ended passages using synth layers and space as structural elements, while on “Peace of Mind,” Danny Brown brings sharper definition, his verse cutting cleanly through the surrounding fluidity.
“Peace of Mind” is the moment this album detonates. Written from an empowered but unsettled place, Joseph describes it as a self-prescribed pick me up, the kind of feeling you get most in your stomach when things aren’t sweet. Before Brown ever opens his mouth, Joseph has already earned the room, staging his own wake and shutting off every feed that could have broadcast it, all inside a single song. Then comes “July” featuring Jorja Smith, and the temperature drops to something tender and enormous simultaneously. The two cut the vocal at home in Walsall after a day together talking about how much had changed since they were kids. Nothing about the finished song performs the full circle that framing might predict. They talk through something hard in real time, and the production gives them enough room to do it without either of them raising a voice.
Solo piece “Manuka” shows that Wesley Joseph can scale those Everest peaks entirely on his own, the woozy digitalism of “Mind Games” recalls Darkstar or even Jamie Woon, while the sublime “Shadow Puppet” and widescreen finale “100 Miles” bring the record to an emphatic conclusion. The album title refers to the fleeting beauty of the present moment, the idea that when you’re young things will last forever, but then you grow up and realise youth is borrowed.
The production across the full runtime is a masterclass in restraint. This is an album that understands silence as an instrument, that trusts the listener to meet it halfway, that never confuses maximalism with ambition. In a moment where British music is louder and more competitive than it has ever been, Joseph has made something that whispers and somehow commands the room.
Forever Ends Someday will not be for everyone. It asks too much of the casual listener and gives too little to those hunting for an easy hook. But for anyone willing to sit with it, to follow it through its many rooms and moods, it is one of the most complete and fully realised British albums in recent memory. Wesley Joseph did not just make his debut. He made his argument. And it is an overwhelming one.
Standout Tracks: Peace Of Mind, July, If Time Could Talk, White Tee, Shadow Puppet
Forever Ends Someday | Album Review
Secretly Canadian / EEVILTWINN | Released: April 10, 2026
Here is the thing about Wesley Joseph. He has been one of the most quietly thrilling artists in British music for the better part of five years, and he has done it almost entirely on his own terms. No viral shortcuts. No trend surfing. Just a filmmaker’s eye, a musician’s ear, and a stubbornness about the kind of art he wants to make. Birmingham born and London based, a member of the OG Horse collective alongside Jorja Smith, he moved to London in 2016 to study film while simultaneously converting his bedroom into a makeshift studio. That dual identity, filmmaker and musician existing in the same body, is the secret weapon that makes Forever Ends Someday feel unlike almost anything else released this year. Three years in the making, Joseph took time away from the spotlight to find his story, choosing to pursue the honesty of his art rather than capitalising on career momentum. That patience is all over the album. This does not sound like a record made under pressure. It breathes.Right from the get go, “Distant Man” and “White Tee” set the tone with fizzing grooves and cataclysmic percussion, before the record takes the listener on a journey that veers between stripped-back soul, leftfield electronics and tightly-focused rap. The production team reads like a fever dream wish list: A.K. Paul, Nicolas Jaar, Harvey Dweller, Tev’n, Al Shux, Ryan Raines and Romil Hemnani all contribute, creating a sonic world that is genuinely hard to define. Rap, soul, shoegaze, psychedelia and downtempo electronics jostle for space without the record ever feeling confused. It feels like a man who contains multitudes. Nicolas Jaar shapes the more spacious, open-ended passages using synth layers and space as structural elements, while on “Peace of Mind,” Danny Brown brings sharper definition, his verse cutting cleanly through the surrounding fluidity.
“Peace of Mind” is the moment this album detonates. Written from an empowered but unsettled place, Joseph describes it as a self-prescribed pick me up, the kind of feeling you get most in your stomach when things aren’t sweet. Before Brown ever opens his mouth, Joseph has already earned the room, staging his own wake and shutting off every feed that could have broadcast it, all inside a single song. Then comes “July” featuring Jorja Smith, and the temperature drops to something tender and enormous simultaneously. The two cut the vocal at home in Walsall after a day together talking about how much had changed since they were kids. Nothing about the finished song performs the full circle that framing might predict. They talk through something hard in real time, and the production gives them enough room to do it without either of them raising a voice.
Solo piece “Manuka” shows that Wesley Joseph can scale those Everest peaks entirely on his own, the woozy digitalism of “Mind Games” recalls Darkstar or even Jamie Woon, while the sublime “Shadow Puppet” and widescreen finale “100 Miles” bring the record to an emphatic conclusion. The album title refers to the fleeting beauty of the present moment, the idea that when you’re young things will last forever, but then you grow up and realise youth is borrowed.
The production across the full runtime is a masterclass in restraint. This is an album that understands silence as an instrument, that trusts the listener to meet it halfway, that never confuses maximalism with ambition. In a moment where British music is louder and more competitive than it has ever been, Joseph has made something that whispers and somehow commands the room.
Forever Ends Someday will not be for everyone. It asks too much of the casual listener and gives too little to those hunting for an easy hook. But for anyone willing to sit with it, to follow it through its many rooms and moods, it is one of the most complete and fully realised British albums in recent memory. Wesley Joseph did not just make his debut. He made his argument. And it is an overwhelming one.
Standout Tracks: Peace Of Mind, July, If Time Could Talk, White Tee, Shadow Puppet
Cultmag Rating: 8.9 / 10
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